Gossip, hearsay, and rumour
The Rumour Mill The key players in the covenant rumour mill are: Marcus * Interacts with the villagers of Church Stretton, particularly the congregation. * Social Contacts, Musicians and Composers * Famous Composer, Among Religious * Gossip Kelydon * Visions Warren * Interacts with the villagers of Church Stretton, particularly the poacher. Gruffyd (and his merry band) * He interacts, ahem, with a variety of travellers, and often journeys far and wide over the course of each year. * Premonitions (The Law) Llewys *Premonitions (Brother) Nenya *Gossip Gertrude *Gossip *Intrigue (Gossip) 3 *Trait: Chatty +3 Muninn *Visions The Rumours Winter 1221 Wirt complains to Nenya that his cloth is getting so tatty that it consists more of darning stitches and holes than actual cloth. If he didn't spend so much time polishing floors, and had been given the opportunity to study from books, he would have become a great magus, just like the Masters by now. Warren visits various suppliers and works his charm, though unfortunately charm is the bread and butter of most of the traders, and this doesn't net him the usual rewards. He has trouble obtaining some types of supplies at first, as apparently the castle up at Sarop is billeting and unfathomably large number of soldiers. War looms large on the horizon. While is in the chandlers, the landlord from the Three Lions wanders in and fetches a boxes of fat church candles with but a nod to the storekeeper. Warren is intrigued, but doesn't question the incident, as he is in the midst of learning more about the man's daughter, though on this occasion, second hand. Llewys catches quite a cold during the winter months, and after some gentle interrogation, Ambrosius learns that Llewys awoke not long after dawn in his room, cold and with muddy feet. Gertrude notices that all the magi have at least one hole in their left stocking on account of them all being handed to her by the servants for darning. She nearly gives Phaedrus a piece of her mind about this silly game of theirs until his Gift washes over her and she is reminded of all the things that involve her being in a completely different room to him. Spring 1221 Marcus is recognised by a passing priest, and soon everyone in Church Stretton seems to have heard that the humble friar is in fact a famous composer of religious music. The village priest had been sitting on this fact, and now finds that he is somewhat less popular than an itinerant monk, a fact that becomes increasingly noticeable over the following services. Toward the end of the month, the unwanted attention has ceased for the most part, but the reputation with the local populace remains good. Warren notices that some of the local communities, especially some of the smaller hamlets keep very much to themselves. At one hamlet, Warren is waylaid by a group of farmers who intend to deal with this "man sent by the Bishop", but thankfully Warren manages to convince them otherwise. Apparently satisfied, they let him go on his way, but divulge nothing more. While foraging, Gruffyd stumbles across a perfect, juicy, green apple in a sack. As he retrieves the piece of fruit a tremendous shiver of cold runs up his spine. Shocked and upset, he places the apple upon gate post, and purges his negative feelings by firing an arrow through it. The apple is revealed to somewhat maggot-ridden. At the stroke of midnight, on the twelfth day, every door, lid, and flap in the covenant slams shut, causing many to scream in fear. The screams and banging strike the fear of Hades into the covenfolk, and the following day is one of the quietest days the covenant has ever known. Summer 1221 Warren searches the Stretton Vale for odd people who might make good recruits for the covenant or the school. Initially, he becomes quite frustrated as his enquiries seem to come to no avail, but by and by he realises that anyone a little different is being shielded from strangers. The girl with the almond coloured eyes, the boy who never grew as tall as his brothers, or the elderly crone who has gone quite blind... all who feel they don't quite fit in stay behind closed doors during his visits. Nenya learns from Kuari that what Phaedrus really likes to eat is a bit of raw rabbit meat, and the odd live mouse. If Nenya were to send such a dish up to Master Phaedrus's abode from time to time, Kuari assures her that he would be most pleased with her. Warren chats with the poacher, who complains that someone has killed a stag in the Lord's forest, and left the corpse intact save for the heart. He has been trouble 'meeting expectations' this month as the Lord has had some of his men patrolling the wood. Gruffyd encounters what he believes to be the clearing that the magi spoke of in Hockestow Forest. He examines the lingering signs of the firepit, tuts as he looks over the stumps of the felled trees used by the outlaw gang to fuel their fire, and gets most of the way through a quite passionate rant about how some people treat this forest with enormous disrespect, when bright Meryl points out that it was Gruffyd who felled these particular trees and lit the fire in the first place. Avoiding her gaze, Gruffyd bends down and pokes absently at the old fire pit and is surprised to discover that the ashes are warm. Autumn 1221 Warren hears rumours regarding the theft of a certain book in Sarop, and wisely decides not to share the tale, as he was the thief in question. Warren's reaction to the tale brings a smile to poacher's face, and thereafter he seems more open toward Warren than before. Marcus is approached by some of the villagers after service one evening. They allege that someone has been stealing the horseshoes nailed over their doors, nails and all. They reckon it was the priest, as he had made them take them down years back when he first arrived in the village, and gradually the villagers had put them back up again. They have already asked the blacksmith, but he has not bought any horseshoes of late, and none have been stolen from his workshop. Gertrude is annoyed to discover that sales of her rather well made woollen garments are not meeting her expectations, despite the gradual turn of the season. Upon investigating, by the process of having tea with some ladies in the village, she finds that someone in the area of Sarop has been selling some extremely finely woven woollen items at some very reasonable prices. Nenya goes to collect a pail of milk that Wirt had neglected to fetch, and claims to have found Fergus playing like a child with some baby goats; running around the field while they chase, bleating, after him. She confides in some of the covenfolk girls that this is a sure sign that he would be a good father. Winter 1222 Muninn presages things to come with the cryptic comment "The turning hand returns the turn. The hoary host heeds the hail. Winter's ally is Summer's foe." There was a time when Gruffyd heeded the birds words and pondered their meaning, but he is damned if the damn bird makes any sense. Warren and the poacher share some wine one evening, and whilst terribly drunk, the poacher confides that there are hidden ways onto the Mynd known to some of the older folk, and that one of these, an old hermit who lives off in the woods, is now claiming to have seen a castle up there. Marco, a redcap reputed to have travelled the breadth of Europe whilst drunk, tells of how he was caught up in fighting between the English and French armies a few months before. He seemed to be telling the tale as though the outcome was almost solely the result of his inadvertant presence on the field, but the story takes an abrupt right turn when Mnemosyne unexpectedly joined the listeners. Regardless, those listening are left with the image of a severly inebriated, invisible redcap trying to dance his way, across a crowded battlefield without being hurt in the fighting all about him. Marcus hears that a storehouse in All Stretton was broken two nights before. The thief managed to force their way in through a small rear window, but as yet the villagers have yet to discover what was stolen. Gertrude learns from the servants that Isaac has had to deal with a number of fights and other unpleasant episodes over the past six months, and almost always over food. It seems that Nenya's cooking is just so good, and the covenant's home grown produce in such short supply, that people are getting quite argumentative over what they are given to eat. Spring 1222 Wirt complains bitterly about having been sent to see a priest. Apparently, Nenya has been furious because all the milk he brought in that day had curdled. She said he had obviously been "full of boldness" that morning, as this was a sure sign he had been up to no good.